Execution of a Moroccan Jewess by Alfred Dehodencq

Capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

is traditionally regulated by the

Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

(''sharīʿa''), which derived from the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

, ''ḥadīth'' literature, and ''

sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

'' (accounts of the sayings and living habits attributed to the

Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

during his lifetime).Samuel M. Zwemer, The law of Apostasy, The Muslim World. Volume 14, Issue 4, pp. 373–391 Crimes according to the ''sharīʿa'' law which could result in capital punishment include,

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

adultery Adultery is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal consequences, the concept ...

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

, etc. Death penalty is in use in many Muslim-majority countries, where it is utilised as ''sharīʿa''-prescribed punishment for crimes such as apostasy from Islam, adultery, witchcraft, murder, rape, and publishing pornography.

Capital crimes and sentencing

Both the hadiths and the Quran mention specific crimes for which capital punishment is a valid punishment. In the four primary schools of

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

(Islamic jurisprudence) and the two primary schools of

Shi'a Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor ( caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community ( imam). However, his right is understoo ...

fiqh, certain types of crimes mandate capital punishment.

Qisas

Qisas ''Qisas'' or ''Qiṣāṣ'' () is an Islamic term interpreted to mean "retaliation in kind",Mohamed S. El-Awa (1993), Punishment In Islamic Law, American Trust Publications, "eye for an eye", or retributive justice. ''Qisas'' and ''diyya'' a ...

is a category of sentencing where sharia permits capital punishment, for intentional or unintentional murder. In the case of death, sharia gives the murder victim's nearest relative or

Wali The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); John ...

() a right to, if the court approves, take the life of the killer. Hudud crimes, which are crimes against God, and are considered the most serious offences under sharia law, for which punishments are prescribed in the Quran. This includes banditry and adultery: Diyya is a payment to avoid trial for crimes such as murder. Concerns have been raised that poor offenders face trial and capital punishment while wealthy offenders avoid even a trial by paying off qisas compensation. The

Murder of Shahzeb Khan On 25 December 2012, university student Shahzeb Khan was murdered in a targeted revenge killing in Karachi, Pakistan. The initial lack of action from police in apprehending Shahzeb Khan's killers sparked countrywide outrage and protests agains ...

in 2012 brought particular attention to this issue in Pakistan.

Hudud

Certain

hudud ''Hudud'' is an Arabic word meaning "borders, boundaries, limits". The word is applied in classical Islamic literature to punishments (ranging from public lashing, public stoning to death, amputation of hands, crucifixion, depending on the c ...

crimes, for example, are considered crimes against Allah and require capital punishment in public.Mohamed El-Awa (1993), Punishment in Islamic Law, American Trust Publications, , pp 1-68 These include

apostasy Apostasy (; ) is the formal religious disaffiliation, disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is contrary to one's previous re ...

(leaving Islam to become an atheist or convert to another religion),David Forte
Islam's Trajectory
, Revue des Sciences Politiques, No. 29 (2011), pages 92-101 fasad (mischief in the land, or moral corruption against Allah, social disturbance and creating disorder within the Muslim state) and

zina ''Zināʾ'' () or ''zinā'' ( or ) is an Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse. According to traditional jurisprudence, ''zina'' can include adultery, fornication, prostitution, sodomy, incest, and bestiality. ''Zi ...

(consensual heterosexual or homosexual relations not allowed by Islam, specifically pre-marital or extramarital).

Modern applications

Muslim-majority nations carry out a large percentage of the world's executions. In the year 2020, an Amnesty International report found that 88 percent of all recorded executions took place in either Iran, Egypt, Iraq or Saudi Arabia. However, 'all recorded executions' did not include data from China, where the number of executions is classified information. In several

Islamic countries The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is p ...

such as Sunni

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, as well as Shia

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, both hudud and qisas type capital punishment is part of the legal system and in use. In others, there is variation in the use of capital punishment. Several Muslim-majority nations have not performed an execution in several decades, though death sentences may still be given. Leaders in Algeria and Tunisia, which have not executed criminals since the early 1990s, have recently suggested a return to capital punishment.

Methods

Lethal

stoning Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times. Stoning appears t ...

and beheading in public under sharia is controversial for being a cruel form of capital punishment. These forms of execution remain part of the law enforced in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Iran and Mauritania. However no stoning has been implemented for many years. Quotations regarding stoning can be seen in hadiths including the following:

Decapitation in Islam

Decapitation Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common c ...

was a standard method of execution in pre-modern

. The use of decapitation for punishment continued well into the 20th century in both Islamic and non-Islamic nations. When done properly, it was once considered a humane and honorable method of execution. Today, its use had been abandoned in most countries by the end of the 20th century. Decapitation is a legal method of execution in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, and was reportedly used in 2001 in Iran according to

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, where it is no longer in use.

In Islamic scripture

There is a debate as to whether the Quran discusses decapitation.Rachel Saloom (2005), "Is Beheading Permissible under Islamic Law – Comparing Terrorist Jihad and the Saudi Arabian Death Penalty", ''UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs'', vol. 10, pp. 221–49. One surah could potentially be used to provide a justification for decapitation in the context of

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom 'til the war lay down its burdens. (47:4)

Among classical commentators,

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī () or Fakhruddin Razi () (1149 or 1150 – 1209), often known by the sobriquet Sultan of the Theologians, was an influential Iranian and Muslim polymath, scientist and one of the pioneers of inductive logic. He wrote var ...

interprets the last sentence of 8:12 to mean striking at the enemies in any way possible, from their head to the tips of their extremities.

Al-Qurtubi Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Anṣārī al-Qurṭubī () (121429 April 1273) was an Andalusian Sunni Muslim polymath, Maliki jurisconsult, mufassir, muhaddith and an expert in the Arabic language. Prominent scholar ...

reads the reference to striking at the necks as conveying the gravity and severity of the fighting. For

al-Qurtubi Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Anṣārī al-Qurṭubī () (121429 April 1273) was an Andalusian Sunni Muslim polymath, Maliki jurisconsult, mufassir, muhaddith and an expert in the Arabic language. Prominent scholar ...

al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

, and

Ibn Kathir Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...

, the expression indicates the brevity of the act, as it is confined to battle and is not a continuous command. Some commentators have suggested that terrorists use alternative interpretations of these surahs to justify beheading captives, however there is agreement among scholars that they have a different meaning. Furthermore, according to Rachel Saloom, surah 47:4 goes on to recommend generosity or ransom when waging war, and it refers to a period when Muslims were persecuted and had to fight for their survival.

Decapitation in Islamic law

Decapitation was the normal method of executing the death penalty under classical Islamic law. It was also, together with hanging, one of the ordinary methods of execution in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. Currently, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which uses decapitation within its Islamic legal system. The majority of executions carried out by the

Wahhabi Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to other ...

government of

are public beheadings, which usually cause mass gatherings but are not allowed to be photographed or filmed. According to Amnesty, decapitation have been carried out by state authorities in

as recently as 2001, but as of 2014 is no longer in use."Death Penalty Database: Iran"
, deathpenaltyworldwide.org, Cornell Law School, accessed 13 June 2016. It is also a legal form of execution in Qatar and Yemen, but the punishment has been suspended in those countries.

Historical occurrences

* The Islamic followers of Mohammed executed the men of the Jewish tribe of

Banu Qurayza The Banu Qurayza (; alternate spellings include Quraiza, Qurayzah, Quraytha, and the archaic Koreiza) were a Jewish tribe which lived in northern Arabia, at the oasis of Yathrib (now known as Medina). They were one of the three major Jewish ...

for a treaty violation, with several hundred killed in 627. * After the

Battle of Hattin The Battle of Hattin took place on 4 July 1187, between the Crusader states of the Levant and the forces of the Ayyubid sultan Saladin. It is also known as the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, due to the shape of the nearby extinct volcano of ...

(1187),

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

personally beheaded

Raynald of Châtillon Raynald of Châtillon ( 11244 July 1187), also known as Reynald, Reginald, or Renaud, was Prince of Antioch—a crusader states, crusader state in the Middle East—from 1153 to 1160 or 1161, and Lord of Oultrejordain—a Vassals of the Kingdo ...

; a Christian knight who served in the

Second Crusade The Second Crusade (1147–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crus ...

and organized attacks against Islam's two holiest cities. *Forces of the

invaded and laid siege to the city of Otranto and its

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

in 1480. According to a traditional account, after capture, more than 800 of its inhabitants – who refused to convert to Islam – were beheaded. They are known as the " Martyrs of Otranto".

Historicity Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status. Historicity deno ...

of this account has been questioned by modern scholars. *

Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Fahal (; 12 August 1843 – 21 June 1885) was a Sudanese religious and political leader. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi and led a war against Egyptian rule in Sudan, which culminated in a remarkable vi ...

declared himself

Mahdi The Mahdi () is a figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the Eschatology, End of Times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad, and will appear shortly before Jesu ...

in 1880 and led Jihad against the Ottoman Empire and their British allies. He and his followers beheaded opponents, Christian and Muslim alike including the British general Charles Gordon.Byron Farwell, Prisoners of the Mahdi (New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1989), pp. 156-7.

References

{{Islam topics, state=collapsed Sharia Corporal punishments Punishments in religion Islamic ethics